The oldest spice
Historians testify that mustard is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, spice that people used to eat. This annual( sometimes perennial) plant from the family of cruciferous was and is still very widespread in Europe, and in Asia, and in North Africa.
Mustard took a worthy place in virtually all European cultures. And the plant itself, and the products made on its basis, have firmly entered the mythology of the peoples living both in the Old and in the New World. For example, such a legend is known. The Persian king Darius sent Alexander Sokolov a bag of sesame seeds to show that he had so many soldiers that they could not count. Alexander responded by sending Darius a bag of
mustard grains, informing him that his army is much larger( in fact, in this case there are more seeds in the bag) and much stronger( the mustard grains have a very burning taste).The French have a saying from the Middle Ages to the present day: "To consider yourself the chief specialist in the preparation of mustard at the court of the Pope," that is, to take yourself for someone very important.
"Gorokhscha"( from the word "bitterness"), that is, mustard, was mentioned in the most ancient Russian pre-Christian monument, found today. This inscription is engraved on a clay pitcher of the 10th century. Some even believe that in this way the "bitter" beginning predetermined the whole complex future of our country. Probably, some part of the truth in this is. However, the popular seasoning in Europe, mustard, took root and became "its" in Russia only towards the end of the 18th century. The reasons for this state of affairs were very objective. In Russia there was no vinegar - a substance that is one of the main components of this seasoning. In "wine" European countries such a problem never existed. In addition, wild mustard, which grew on the vast steppe territory of Russia between the Volga and the Don, was not suitable for making spices. Mustard oil and powder from such a plant turned out to be too bitter.
The general in resignation Nikita Afanasyevich Beketov was engaged in cultivation of seeds of white( French and English) mustard for the first time in 1784 of
.Hearing about the appearance in the capital of a new delicacy imported to Russia from abroad, in the form of an acute seasoning for meat dishes and even in the form of vegetable oil from mustard grown in England and France, some landowners in Tsaritsyno districttried to get something similar from the local wild mustard. Nikita Afanasyevich Beketov, who lived in these places, knew this.
In St. Petersburg, where he visited a dinner in the palace, Nikita Afanasyevich first tried both seasoning and mustard oil. It was then that the interested general drew his attention for the first time to the habitual weed, the thickets of which could be found right near the house.
Wild mustard is unpretentious, grows everywhere, where there are small lowlands or sunny slopes. She is undemanding to humidity. Beketov began to conduct the first experiments on processing plants and wrung from the wild mustard in a primitive way oil, using as a load of stone and iron. But the taste of the oil was too bitter. Nikita Afanasievich, using St. Petersburg connections and acquaintances, entered into contacts with the Russian Free Economic Society, received through them seeds of white French and English mustard, and in 1784 energetically took up a series of experiments on growing plants and obtaining from them mustard oil and powder for spices. The experiments were successful with
, oil and powder sent to St. Petersburg in the Russian Free Economic Society and on the market were well appreciated, and the experimenter Beketov was awarded the gold medal of the society.
But in connection with his illness, and soon death, the case for the production of mustard did not go further than the experiments. Fortunately, there were young, energetic, inquisitive people in Sarept from the number of Germans who came to these places, who continued the work of Beketov. Conrad Neitz, a doctor by profession, was already an experienced missionary in the 90s, lived among the Kalmyks, knew their language, customs, rituals, healed them and had many friends among the Kalmyks. Wandering with them across the boundless steppes, Neitz saw in the spring a large yellow field with flowers resembling a flower of "Beketovo" mustard. Looking closer, he compared the flowers with the experimental culture of Beketov and established their relationship.
Neitz appealed to Russian and Tatar peasants with a request to plant his seeds and grow mustard, summoned to him from the surrounding villages strong men as assistants in his pilot production. Years of painful searches, experiments, expended forces, energy, organizational skills led him to real success, and the first mustard flour, the first mustard, the first mustard oil appeared exactly in Sarepta, in Tsaritsynsky district. Over many years of persistent experiments on the cross-breeding of various cultivars of mustard with wild, highly drought-resistant, Neytz managed to derive a special
variety of sareptic mustard, superior to all other( ancestral) varieties in taste due to the concentration of many useful extractives in it.
In 1801, Neitz produced a more advanced experience in the production of mustard dining room on a handmade mustard seed mill. In 1810, the mustard of Neitz, whose case was continued by the son-in-law Johann Caspar Hlich, was given access to the royal table, where it was considered fit, very benign, and the Tsar Alexander I awarded Neitz with a gold watch. Since then, the import of mustard from England has been discontinued.